OTTAWA – Amid heated riding battles to become candidates in upcoming elections, both the Liberals and Conservatives are banning those who lose nomination races from running for other parties or as independents.

Nomination application forms obtained by the Ottawa Citizen show that both parties require anyone seeking to become a candidate to agree they won’t challenge the winner of the nomination battle should they lose.

And both parties go so far as to block the nomination hopefuls from running for other parties, in other ridings, as well. The restrictions appear to cover anyone who applies to run for the party nominations, whether or not they are disqualified or are even allowed into the race.

The agreements could affect upcoming elections in ridings such as Trinity-Spadina, where the Liberals refused to approve Christine Innes’s application to seek the nomination, or in Calgary Signal Hill, where longtime Conservative MP Rob Anders lost the nomination to former provincial Tory cabinet minister Ron Liepert.

Under the Liberal agreement, Innes, for example, would be blocked from running for someone else against the eventual winner of the party’s nomination race in the upcoming Trinity-Spadina byelection.

She is currently suing Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and a party official for $1.5 million for defamation over their allegations about the conduct of her campaign.

The agreements are part of the lengthy applications candidates must sign before getting party approval to seek the nominations. It is unclear what might happen to those who ignore the agreements and run for office after being rejected by their own parties.

Liberal Party of Canada national director Jeremy Broadhurst calls the possibility of a breached agreement hypothetical and said he couldn’t speculate on how the party might respond if a failed contestant ran in the election.

He said similar language has been used in past nomination contestant agreements but he wasn’t aware of any case in which someone who signed one went on to run as an independent or for another party.

The federal Conservative party did not respond to a request for comment.

The New Democrats do not require prospective candidates to make the same undertaking.

Questionnaires used by the Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats require prospective candidates to list past political affiliations, describe any ongoing litigation or past bankruptcies, and disclose other matters that could prove potentially embarrassing to the parties.

Both the Liberals and Conservatives additionally require applicants to say whether they are currently involved in divorce proceedings or disputes over child custody or support payments.

In Calgary, former provincial Tory minister Liepert defeated Anders in the nomination in Calgary Signal Hill and will now represent the Conservative party in the riding in the next federal election.

There has been speculation that Anders could be eyeing the Conservative nomination in a nearby riding. However, potentially running as an independent against Liepert in the next election now appears out of the question because Anders signed the declaration.

Over in Calgary Skyview in the city’s northeast, Puma Banwait and Buta Singh Rehill had hoped to challenge incumbent MP Devinder Shory for the party nomination, but they were both recently disqualified by the Conservative party without explanation.

Banwait, a successful Calgary businessman, says the party disqualified him because Conservative officials knew he had a good shot at beating Shory for the party nomination.

He assailed the party for having potential candidates sign a written declaration promising not to run as an independent when they won’t even let challengers run in the nomination contest.

“How can you put a rule on me if you don’t allow me to come play ball with you guys? It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Banwait said in an interview.

“Harper is preaching democracy all over the world and there are smoke and mirrors in his backyard. Are you kidding me? A lot of people are pissed off at him in the riding.”

Banwait said he would not have run as an independent in the next federal election if he lost a fair Conservative nomination vote.

But he said he’s 75-per-cent sure he will run as an “independent Conservative” in the next campaign because party members want their voices heard.

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